


Fox Tails and Rabbit Furs

by HPLurvkriff



Category: Zootopia (2016)
Genre: F/M, Romantic Fluff, Time Skips, woke up hungover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 08:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HPLurvkriff/pseuds/HPLurvkriff
Summary: After a night out celebrating with coworkers, Judy wakes up slightly hungover but covered by the most comfortable blanket she has ever felt. Except that it isn't a blanket and every nights' sleep since then feels inadequate without being surrounded by red fur. A routine robbery might have led her to a solution or is it just an aspirin for a broken arm?





	Fox Tails and Rabbit Furs

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to thank Lord Kraus, Cobalt Lion, and KohGeek their help.

    Warmth. Warmth was the first sense that flooded Judy’s mind. A warmth, the like of which she hadn’t felt in ages. A warmth from near forgotten childhood moments. Kits piled on kits, sharing enough warmth to withstand the cold farm nights. The warmth felt beyond good. It felt right. It felt like home.

    The warmth also made her languid. Awakening usually came instantly to the rabbit, but she wallowed in the rarity of this warmth. Her eyes cracked open for the briefest moment. The sliver of her vision was a red blur. Her waking breath brought the scent of violets to her nose.

    Daylight sent a throb of pain through her head as her eyes widened. Slamming her eyelids shut, a foggy flash of memory of the bar and drinks gave her an explanation for the pain. Even with her limited experiences with alcohol, she knew the pains of a hangover. Even a small one.

    It had been a celebration. A long fought case had finally been closed. Between the embezzlement of company funds, purchasing and selling of narcotics, and the suicide cover-up of a murder the case had bounced through every department, except parking enforcement, at the precinct. That night, as soon as the guilty verdict came forward to all charges, everyone flooded The Hoof and Claw, the unofficial official bar of Precinct One.

    Her night started with a simple beer with Nick. Much to Nick’s mocking amusement, Clawhauser had ordered her something fruity with a ridiculous straw. There was a shot or two with Francine, maybe three. From there the fog rolled in heavy. She couldn’t even recall how she got home but, with how thick and fuzzy the blanket she was cuddling, she wasn’t even sure she was home.

    That thought brought her gasping into full consciousness. Regardless of the pain from the daylight, her eyes snapped open. A single sound stopped her from leaping out of bed. It was a low, rumbling hum, almost a purr. It was close and unmistakably male. Then she felt it. The blanket draped over her back moved, realizing it had been moving the whole time. A gentle, rhythmic movement. Between her shoulder blades, through her fur and the thick fuzz of the other mammal, she could almost hear the _lub-dub_ , _lub-dub_ of a heartbeat. Whoever it was with her in the bed, they were wrapped around her.

    Her mind scrubbed over the hazy memories of the previous night fruitlessly. Finding no readily available answers, it seemed the only reasonable course of action to solve this riddle would be to get out of the warm embrace and look at who she was sharing a bed with.

    The arm that draped over her midsection was her first obstacle. Shifting her hips, she slid from under the arm and curled against the male’s thick chest fur. His heartbeat was still slow and steady. Squirming out of the bed she thought back to her training, explicitly crawling through a muddy ditch under barbed wire. The pain of her hangover was preferable to the nerve-wracking mystery she was dealing with.

    Her paw touched the floor as the rest of her scrambled out of the bed after it. She was in her own apartment. On her desk were two water bottles, one half-full, and a small pill bottle. Another slumbery hum came from the occupant of her bed, drawing her attention back to him. Standing next to the bed she got her first full view of the mammal and her stomach fell.

    “Nick?” she couldn’t help but yell in astonishment.

    The fox in question shot up, his arms recoiled into a defensive stance and he sleepily shouted, “Freeze!”

    He blinked a few times before his eyes focused their half-lidded gaze on Judy.

    “Morning, Carrots.” He slumped back into her bed, a lazy paw reached up and scratched under his collar bone.

    Her heart pounded in her chest as her mind kept failing to think of a reason they ended up in the same bed that wasn’t scandalous.

    “Nick,” while quieter her voice was no less stressed than before, “what happened last night?”

    “Aside from successfully getting you to avoid a massive hangover this morning, do you want it chronologically or in order of importance?”

    The question that was at the forefront of her mind almost burst bluntly out of her mouth, “Did I… Did you..” Wincing at her lack of tact, she tried to rephrase her query better, “Last night, did we…”

    “Don’t worry, Carrots, your virtue and honor are still intact.” He pulled a small plush rabbit out from underneath himself, “My dignity on the other hand…”

    A relieved sigh escaped her. Waking up in the bed with a male held some rather specific implications in her mind. Whether the implication was worse with a known mammal over some stranger was still up in the air.

    “Yeah I know, it would have been such a shame if you drank so much you couldn’t remember such a wonderful fox-filled night.”  His lascivious smirk curled enough to show a bit of fang.

    She felt like her head could have been replaced with a fiery red tomato. A small pang of pain in her head told her she wasn’t up to trading quips quite yet, so she switched to her secondary weapon against Nick; fury.

    Her brow furrowed and her eyes grew cold. He recognized that look and his smirk quickly retreated.

    “Nicholas Piberius Wilde, what happened last night?” Only a select few sounds could send such a frightful chill down his spine. Coincidentally, he hadn’t heard most of those frightening sounds until he met the cute little meter maid. None were as spine-chilling as her truly angry voice.

    “The long and the short of it is; you got drunk and I brought you home.”

    “And you decided to sleep here too?”

    “You didn’t give me much of a choice, Fluff.”

    The blankness of her memory was beyond frustrating. Nick’s response though seemed more genuine than not. Although he also had the incorrigible knack of knowing how to balance on the blade’s edge between humorous and aggravating with her. She could not fathom drunkenly whittling down the fox’s options to sleeping in her bed with her.

    “That doesn’t seem like me.”

    “Says the rabbit that blackmailed me the second day we met.”

    She conceded that point with an eye roll, “You’re a resourceful todd and, hopefully, less drunk than I was.”

    He was also larger than her and her species’ ancient enemy. If he wanted he could have forced her to give him back his ability to choose. But that wasn’t a point she wanted to vocalize.

    “True enough, but out of the two options I had, sleeping next to you was the only one that didn’t involve me gnawing off a favored extremity.”

    Her head tilted and left ear drooped in confusion.

    “I had just tucked you in and was placing your morning alleviations,” he motioned to the bottles of aspirin and water on her desk, “When I felt two little, fuzzy-wuzzy paws latch onto my tail. I turned around to see you cuddling with my appendage like it was one of your plush rabbits. As adorable as that was, I wanted to get home. So I tried to tug my tail out of your grip, only for you to tighten your paws around it.”

    Plushies were commonplace in rabbit homes, especially big families like hers. It helped with kits in smaller families simulate the “kit piles” that were common in large families and large families used them to ease older kits out of sleeping in piles. At least most of them. Judy always loved having a pile of plushies to sleep with even after the rest of her siblings grew out of them. So much so that there were tales of her mother dragging her out of bed by whatever plush she was hugging. It wasn’t something Judy actually believed, she wasn’t one to sleep in, even as a kit. A box of her favorites came with her to Zootopia and a few new ones were bought in the city. The two most noticeable were an officially licensed plush of Gazelle and a fox.

    “At first I waited. I mean, what kind of mammal is capable of maintaining a vice-like grip all night long?”

    Nick held his gaze on the rabbit.

    “Me?” She answered realizing his question wasn’t rhetorical.

    “Apparently, rabbit cops can double as fuzzy vices when they sleep.” He pointed at the half-full water bottle, “I sipped on that for over an hour, waiting for you to loosen up. Eventually, I gave up.”

    “And crawled into my bed.”

    “Well, I wasn’t going to sleep in a chair built for a rabbit. I’m already having enough back problems from hunching over a desk doing paperwork.” Stretching his upper body up and out, his back cracked loudly several times. “I tell ya’, getting old sucks. Just wait until you hit the big three-oh and your body starts falling apart.”

    She rolled her eyes. Mid-late twenties to early thirties was nothing in terms of age differences. Some of her siblings have spouses with a difference of ten years or more. He might have had a harsher physical life than her, with his time in the streets, but his performance while at the Academy and in the field point to the sole cause of his woesome aches; a severe case of  Drama Queenitis.

    Swiveling, Nick’s bare legs swung out from under the blanket over the side of her bed. Her eyes darted from his exposed legs to his bare chest and then the strip of blanket covering what little was left before quickly averting away.

    “Don’t tell me you slept naked.”

    A lecherous smirk snaked on to his muzzle, “Okay, I won’t.”

    He stretched up again, the blanket sliding down his body. Maybe it was curiosity, maybe fear, but whatever it was it glued Judy’s eyes onto the lowering blanket. She had seen his shirtless form once before, as he attempted to dry himself after they had escaped from the Cliffside Asylum via its sewer system. It was her first real hint at how bad his life hustling was. He had been hiding his concerningly thin frame under baggy Pawaiian shirts. Having gone through the Academy training herself, she knew one of its side effects was muscle growth. His improvement was noticeable from the tight gear they wore for training and sparring. Now it lay before her in all of its glory, unfettered by fabric or padding.

    The blanket passed a divot in his fur, his bellybutton, as it slid further and further down. His inguinal crease veered closer together as the blanket slid down his form. In a flash, his arm tore the blanket away. Judy raised her paws to cover her eyes but it was too late. She saw it all.

    “Heart print boxers? Really?” She let out a contemptuous laugh.

    “If I knew my undergarments were going to be judged, I might have put on something a bit sexier. Or,” he narrowed his eyes at the rabbit, “nothing at all.”

    “Nick, please!” Finally taking her eyes off the fox, she saw his discarded clothes and tossed his pants at him.

    “What? It’s how I sleep at home.”

    “Just make sure you’re wearing something next time.”

    Leaning down to pick up his discarded shirt, she froze hearing Nick snort, realizing what exactly she just said to cause that reaction. She was finding herself hard pressed to think of a more awkward morning than the one she was currently enduring.

    “Next time, eh? One foxy night not enough for you?”

    “That’s enough, Nick.” She felt her molars grinding against each other as she tossed his shirt at his smug face, “I think that hangover had a delay because I’m starting to get a headache.”

    Buttoning up his shirt, he got up from her bed fully clothed and headed to her door.

    “Alright, sorry. Just be happy you’re home already. You get to shower off the scent of fox off you. I have to hope no one on the bus notices I smell like rabbit.”

    “You can use-”

    A cool paw pad from Nick’s finger pressed against her mouth, nearly booping her nose. All the aggravation and annoyance from the last several minutes vanished as she saw his emerald eyes shine. Her parents’ eyes had a similar shine after she solved the Night Howler case. It was a look of understanding and pride. Aside from missing the fear and trepidation that her parents had, there was something else in Nick’s eyes she couldn’t quite grasp. Whatever it was, it doubled the warm fuzzies in her stomach.

    “It’s fine. I don’t mind. I mean, I’ve gotten used to getting odd looks over the years. Besides, I don’t think your rabbit sized towels could handle me.”

    The mischievous smirk slunk back onto his face.

    “Good gravy, Nick.”

    “Now, who has the dirty mind? I’ve got thicker fur than you. I’m surprised you didn’t notice since you nestled against it all night.”

    “Out. Out!” She shooed Nick out her door.

    Through the paper-thin walls, she heard his departing words, “Later, Carrots.”

    Walking back to her desk, she popped two aspirins and chugged the second half of the opened water bottle. There was a faint taste of rum still on the bottle from Nick.

    It was her day off and she had lots planned. She was already late on starting her daily fitness regimen. There were still groceries to buy and, with her outfit from last night smelling of booze, some laundry to do.

    With a groan, she fell back into her bed. She pulled one of her many plush rabbits to her. It still held the faint warmth of the body it laid under. Rabbits’ sense of smell was weaker than any foxes’, but it didn’t take much for her to smell Nick on the plush figure. Or on her bed in general. Hugging the toy rabbit, she sighed. As trying as her morning was, a nap sounded like a better idea than her previous plans.

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    Her eyes creaked open. The grey, pre-dawn light slunk through her window. She was… she wasn’t as warm. The blankets and plush dolls around her kept the cold of night away but, compared to the warmth of waking up surrounded by fox, it was distractingly unwarm. It had been nearly a week since that morning and every morning since was a pale imitation. A microwave meal to a home cooked holiday feast. One could survive off either but only one left you smiling with a warm and full belly.

    Reaching out, she tapped her clock, shutting off the waiting alarm and started her day.

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    They rolled to a stop in the mostly empty parking lot. Ancient ads clung to the fading red brick on the side of the warehouse.The main entrance with its modern angles contrasted with the age of the building.It was all squares and rectangles but nothing distractingly sharp, aside from the earthy browns against the bright white paints. Two other cars, one suited for a smaller mammal, sat in the lot. One close to the loading bay, the other at the public entrance.

    Getting out, Judy read the evenly spaced name placed above the main entrance, “Astor’s Finery.”

    “One of the oldest businesses in Zootopia.” Nick supplied.

    According to the sign on the door, they were closed for another hour but the door opened at Nick’s knocking paw. The two officers could see a white mink in a dark jacket, going over paperwork at the counter.

    “Hello? ZPD, the door was open.”

    The mink looked up with mild surprise, “Oh, here already? That was quick.”

    “No one wants a slow police force.” Judy smiled as the mink climbed down from the counter.

    He offered his paw to the two officers as they introduced one another, “Jacob Astor of Astor’s Finery.”

    “Officer Nick Wilde.”

    “Officer Judy Hopps.” Her smile dimmed as she pulled out her notebook, “So what exactly happened?”

    “We were robbed last night. I’ll show you, come with me.”

    They followed the thin mink through the store, which was more like a showroom of various fur clothes.

    “You sell furs?” She asked. Fur clothing always had an eerie edge. With its origins in death and primitive culture, it was hard to see it as anything but shady.

    “Yes, I’m a furrier. My family business has been fur based for generations. My brother, John, recruits and pays the fur donors and I handle the manufacturing, selling, and repair of the products. It’s all above board. We have all the proper licenses, registrations, and have had spotless inspections. You can see the paperwork if you wish.”

    “I don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Nick removed his sunglasses and placed them in his breast pocket.

    As they passed a tan coat taller than Judy, she spied the price tag hanging off the sleeve and blanched. It was just shy of a month’s salary. Jacob turned his head back towards her unseen reaction. Perhaps his lineage of being in the business had given him some genetic awareness of price shock.

    “Such genuine quality deem such high prices. Wool is cheap. Sheep are plentiful and, after it’s turned into fabric or fiber, all wool is the same. You can’t just get fur from any mammal. There are many standards that need to be met. After the fur is retrieved it needs to be sewn together. Time and effort by my seamstresses and sewers who need to be compensated properly for their expertise.”

    Passing through a set of double doors they entered a white hallway that led them to the warehouse. They noticed a large, upturned box. Further down the large aisle, an elk with a clipboard was taking inventory of other shelves and boxes of furs. Glass was scattered across the floor. It looked like the thieves broke the door’s window to gain access to the warehouse.

    Nick whistled pointing at the swirling cursive logo on the box, “A box of De Luxor furs that big? That’s got to be close to ten grand.”

    Jacob chuckled, “Barely, a box of De Luxor is like a bag of chips; mostly air. As nice as they are, I fully admit they are overpriced.”

    “So how much was stolen?” Judy clicked her pen and set it against her notebook.

    “Two hundred dollars, but that’s just an overestimation.”

    Nick cocked his head in confusion and pointed back at the box, “But..?”

    “It was full of scrap furs. Leftovers from repairs and refurbishing. Next week they were to go off to our Little Rodentia branch. Getting a police report is just crossing our tees and dotting our eyes, for insurance purposes.”

    Judy nodded, now seeing why he was surprised at their arrival. The rest of their policing went rote as it could; Statements were taken, security footage was copied, and pertinent inventory histories were written down. Jacob had gone back to the showroom to open the business for the day and Nick was taking a few last notes from Edward, the elk. She watched her partner question the taller mammal and smiled. Here he was, taking charge of an investigation when only a few years earlier he might have been involved in this crime. A warmth spread through her chest as she watched him.

    “Looks like you can handle the rest here. I’ll radio Clawhauser an update.”

    Taking a sideways glance, his eyes flickered over her, “Sure thing, Carrots.”

    He gave her a wink before turning back to the elk. A warm bloom of admiration for Nick ran through her like electricity. Her heart rate picked up as she noticed how well he filled out his uniform. That thought was followed by a different emotional thrum which made her keenly aware that she hadn’t moved from her spot staring at Nick. She turned and fled back to the showroom, hoping no one noticed neither her pregnant stay or her hasty retreat.

    Wandering down the aisles of furs she let her paw slide across the wares. Varying levels of fluff swept across her soft paw until it sunk into something thick and familiar. She stopped and brought the object, a small blanket, off the rack. The fur was more tan than red while just as thick as Nick’s. She squeezed it her paws as the memory of that euphoric warmth flooded her mind.

    “Anything I can help you with, officer?”

    The fox fur fumbled in her paws from the sudden appearance of the mink proprietor.  Startled out of her stupor she shoved the fur back on the rack haphazardly.

    “Ah, no. No, I’m good. Thanks.”

    Jacob eyed the rabbit and then glanced at the rack of furs next to her. A lump swelled in Judy’s throat, like a kit caught with their paws in the cookie jar. The old mink hid his smirk as he adjusted the fumbled fur.

    “If anything catches your eye just let me know.”

    “I will.” She headed out of the store with her ears low hiding her blush.

    Back at the car, Judy updated Clawhauser on their current call. Nick walked out of the store, with his sunglasses already on. There was no doubt in her mind that he put those back after making some awful pun. That shtick always wavered between endearing and annoying, which would be Nick in a nutshell.

    “Are we off to paperwork land next?” He asked as he approached the cruiser.

    “It’s too early for that. We’ll head back after another patrol or two.”

    With a synchronicity that’s rarely seen outside of Olympic events, they got into the car and closed their doors in unison.

    “You mean lunch and an uneventful patrol or two.”

    The mention of food reminded her that it had been hours since she had breakfast, and she knew Nick had a bad habit of skipping breakfast in favor of more sleep. A smile crept onto her face as her mother’s voice echoed in her head about how the fastest way to a buck’s heart was through his stomach.

    She started the engine and made her way out of the parking lot, “Isn’t that Indian place around here?”

    His tail began to wag, “The one with the awesome korma dish? Yeah.”

    “I’ve been wanting their carrot chutney again. So lunch, then patrols, and we finish out our day with the robbery report.”

    He looked at her over his shades, a wicked smile on his face, “Except it wasn’t a robbery.”

    Sitting at the exit of the lot with her ears drooped, her mind raced to see the detail she missed. If it wasn’t a robbery what was it? Insurance fraud came to mind first. But she couldn’t see sweet old Jacob setting up a scam for a few hundred dollars.

    “What do you mean?”

    “A robbery is when something is taken by a threat or force. No one was around, so it was a burglary.”

    Her ears shot back up beaming at her partner, “See? I told you you’d make a good cop.”

    “Just drive, Fluff. I’m getting hungry.”

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    Mornings’ warmth were still lacking. Waking up stiff from a hard day before, thanks to a lengthy chase of a purse thief, it only served to amplify the inadequacy of her current bedding’s warmth. She resolved that today would be the problem’s last.

    It wasn’t until she stood in front of the warehouse again that second thoughts started to creep into her mind. Thoughts like the potential financial dent it would cause her or how she would transport her purchase back on public transportation without notice. The most dreaded was of a sudden parental visit discovering her hypothetical purchase.

    Those thoughts lost out. The demand for a fluffier and warmer waking was more important. Besides, she spent a good chunk of her day getting to the store, it would be a waste not to take the plunge. Thanking her luck that there weren’t any other vehicles in the lot, she pressed onward.

    A bell chimed lightly as she opened the door. The familiar white mink’s head popped out from one of the aisles. His baseline smile widened recognizing the rabbit.

    “Officer Hopps, it is good to see you.”

    She smiled back at him nearly on instinct, “You too, Mr. Astor.”

    “Oh no. Please call me Jacob.” His congenial demeanor calmed Judy’s nerves a smidge, “Since you’re not in uniform, I assume this is a personal visit. What can I help you with?”

    Her ears burned pink at the thought of finally vocalizing what she wanted. No, not wanted, it was more than that. She needed it. She needed to feel that warmth again and this was her only option. At least the only option that didn’t involve getting drunk around a certain fox.

    “When I was here last, there was a fur that kind of caught my attention.”

    Her mind had whipped up a long rambling explanation of how she didn’t know what kind of fur it was but thought it could make a good rug. She’d explain how tired her feet could get on the job and the thick fur seemed like it could help, all in hopes that he’d also show her something more like a fox fur blanket or pillow. So she’d get the items she wanted with as little embarrassment as possible and he’d see the transaction as upselling a more expensive product. But she didn’t get the chance.

    “Ah yes, the fox fur. This way.” He turned and scampered off.

    Judy followed him sputtering, “Fox? Fox fur? That was fox fur?”

    “I’m surprised you didn’t know. With a fox partner, I figured you’d have known. Aren’t police mammals supposed to spar with each other and all that?”

    They did spar with one another but there was more than that between them. She tried to bring out a safe memory of physical contact with Nick to give to the mink but her mind wouldn’t move from that one warm morning.

    “I guess I didn’t realize it was fox.” She lied, hoping he couldn’t tell.

    They made their way back to the section she had paused at the last time she was there. He pulled out the same tan fur she had.

    “Fox fur is quite exquisite. It’s thick but breathable, long but rarely matts. I’d dare say just as many non-foxes buy fox fur as foxes do.” He handed her the fur cloth and showed the label tagged onto it, “This is just one of our sample pieces, to let you know the quality of the specific brand. Our top three product categories are rugs, liners, and replicas.”

    Knowing Nick’s tale of the infamous skunk-butt rug and having seen some of the other rugs at Mr Big’s mansion, rugs being a top tier product made sense. With their warmth, rugs made even more sense in places like Tundra Town.

    “What are liners?”

    Jacob smiled and opened his dark jacket, the underside was lined with thick off-white fur.

    “With my naturally smooth fur, I have a fondness for something a bit more grit. I’ve been favoring polar bear lately.” He let his jacket fall back closed, “It’s the perfect way for one to experience the fur of another mammal without the stigma many see with most outerwear. With the ancient and barbaric origins of furwear, I understand why some might see outerwear as macabre but we have evolved well beyond those times. Furwear, in my opinion, is a celebration of the variety of mammalia.”

    She could hear the tiredness of the point in his voice. Years ago this would have been an impassioned sermon but time had beat it down. His fervor worn to a few inoffensive statements on the matter.

    Her paw moved back onto the fox fur, feeling the thick tufts between her fingers, “The more we try to understand one another, both our differences and similarities, the more exceptional we become.”

    Relief and admiration pulled his smile wider, “A wonderful ideal I wish more mammals strived towards. Now, what would you like to see?”

    Jacob Astor was nothing if not thorough in his salesmanship. Every item that was brought up he had several tales and uses for them from previous customers or personal experience. Her intent was a blanket but as more was shown to her the more varied her desire became. As nice as the rugs were, those were meant to be walked on, not slept on. The various liners gave Judy pause. Being able to feel that thick, fuzzy warmth all day was very appealing. It was tantalizing to think about walking around with a jacket lined with fox fur. When he told her they have had some custom orders from other officers to line their bulletproof vest with fur she nearly stopped him right there, but she wanted to hear all her options before making a decision.   

    “You mentioned replicas. What does that mean? Do you make fox suits?”

    Jacob let out a gregarious laugh, “Oh no, no. It’s not a full mammal but just the fluffier parts, mostly the tails.”

    “Tails? You make fox tails?” The desire inside her set aside the idea of a fox line coat to let out a joyous squeal that rivaled anything Clawhauser was capable of doing.

    “They’re one of our main fox products actually.”

    He brought her over to three large bins. The last two were empty but the first one was filled with long, fluffy tails that were unmistakably foxtails.

    “I’m sorry we don’t have a full supply. The new season is running late and we just donated what was left of the previous season’s stock.”

    Her brow furrowed, “You donate fox tails?”

    Jacob nodded, his little ears sagging, “After putting the tails on clearance, what we have left is donated to hospitals and shelters for foxes in need.”

    “Are they replacement tails?”

    “Heavens no, they’re too delicate for that. They’re for-” He paused, taking in a breath. The fun and exciting shopping montage she was living vanished, replaced with a cool somber mood.

    “They’re to help foxes survive their grief.” There was still confusion in Judy’s saddening eyes. “Foxes are one of the most monogamous mammals. Fatally so. If one was to lose their mate, the odds of the surviving fox dying shortly afterward is more than three times higher than any other mammal. The replica tails help them cope and increase their chances of survival.”

    Judy couldn’t help the tears from forming. It didn’t take a degree in psychology to know why Nick was so emotionally closed off- but ever since they became partners, and permanent fixtures in one another’s lives, he had opened up to her about many things. She knew about all of his big hustles and all his close calls with both the law and criminal enforcers. All she knew about his father was that he died shortly after the Ranger Scout incident and that he loved both him and his mother. Foxes seemed to be just as emotional as rabbits, maybe more so, but they just internalized it. Perhaps showing emotion might have been a sign of weakness to predators back in the old, bad days, before civilization. Now she had a glimpse of why he was so tight lipped about it.

    She wiped the tears away to see Jacob give her a solemn nod.

    “We do what we can for those in need. But, anecdotally, the tails have also been great for keeping fox relationships stable. I’ve had customers deployed in the military, on extended training leave, or even just opposite shifts tell us that these tails helped their relationships immensely.”

    Her ears were thankfully already down, so the pink flush coursing through them couldn’t be seen as she wondered if Nick had any replica tails from vixens of his past. With a slight shake of her head, she tossed that thought from her mind.

    “May I?” She asked pointing at the tails.

    Jacob gestured towards them, “If we didn’t want them to be touched, they’d be behind glass.”

    As soon as her paw was engulfed in the fur, she had to stop herself from jumping into the box and never leaving it. The over stimulation of fluff subsided and she began to feel the tails in earnest. Whenever she held her paw on one for a length of time, Jacob would chime in with some details about that specific tail and what species of fox it came from.

    “That’s arctic fox with a bit of gray fox, which is why it’s thicker than most.”

    “That one is half swift fox and half kit fox. Both being smaller species, it’s a smaller tail with shorter hair.”

    She wasn’t even looking at the tails, trusting her paws to feel out the right one. A small gasp escaped her as her paws wrapped around at familiar feeling fur. It wasn’t as thick as the genuine article, but it was the closest to it.

    “Ah, that one there is pure red fox. Speaking of red foxes, how is your partner?”

    “Nick?” Her grip tightened on the tail, “He’s fine.”

    “Good to hear. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but is he the son of Jonathan Wilde?”

    Her ear twitched in thought. Whenever Nick talked about him, in those rare moments, he only referred to paternal verbiage. Although she did recall Marian referring to him as Johnny once. She turned to the mink, tail still in hand.

    “Did you know him?”

    The question was out of her mouth before she realized. She wanted to know more about Nick’s past and about his father, but it almost felt wrong getting information from a third party. At the same time, her curiosity was overwhelming.

    “Occupationally. Being a tailor, we shared a segment of clientele. I have a whole list of tailors, seamstresses, and such to refer to for my customers’ needs. I wasn’t aware of his passing until a client told me his shop had closed.”

    Jacob’s eyes lingered on the empty boxes of foxtails, “I knew he had a family so I sent our donation early that season. I’m just glad to see his son made it through, and a cop no less. Any parent would be proud of that achievement.”

    She held a droll smile thinking on her parent’s reaction to her reaching that particular achievement. REgardless of her own parents’ reaction, her smile turned genuine remembering how Marian reacted to Nick’s enrollment and graduation of the ZPA.

    “His mother said something similar.” She hadn’t noticed her stroking of the foxtail until her paw hit a plastic nub at the end.

    “What’s this?” She turned the tail down, bringing the plastic bit to view.

    “That is half of the locking mechanism that pairs with our comfort pillows. They attach to give the full sensation of being encircled, as foxes tend to do. Would you like to see our selection?”

    She did, very much.

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    Warmth. Full, drowsing warmth surrounded her. So much more so than with her standard pillows, blankets, and plushies. Her arms and legs wrapped around the fox tail as she buried her back into the thick fur of the fox fur pillow. Reveling in the feeling of fur on fur she had taken to sleeping without a shirt for the last week and a half. The set was costly. Not as costly as she thought, as the visible price tags of the other merchandise leading up to the cash register caused her to second guess her decision. She was pretty sure Jacob had given her a discount as well. He probably wouldn’t admit it, so she didn’t asked.

    But as close as it was, she had started to notice it never got as indulgent as the real thing. Maybe it was from the lack of internal warmth of the set. Possibly the missing rhythmic motion of his breathing. As much as she wanted to feel that again, her two options to obtain it crossed lines she didn’t want to cross.

    A small electric heater could be installed into the pillow to simulate body warmth. An extension of the heater could be put into the base of the tail, giving it the same ambient warmth a living tail would have. An air bladder could be inserted into the pillow, set to mimic the breathing of a sleeping fox. To have all of that done would be even more expensive than the set itself, and much harder to hide than shoving it in the gap between her wall and bed then covering it with her sheets and her army of plushies.

    Her other option would be to ask Nick to sleep over.

    While it was the more financially sound option, it was terrifying. She’d rather ask someone to modify a fox fur pillow and tail set than ask her best friend, her partner on the force, to take off his shirt and curl around her in bed together. He’d think she was some sort of deviant with a perverted fox fetish.

    But it wasn’t just a fox fetish. The nights wrapped in the thick red fur gave her time to think on how to replicate the warmth of that morning. She tried imagining she was a kit again amongst a pile of siblings. When that failed she tried to impose the idea of the sultry, movie spy, Jack Savage, was curled around her to no avail. Even the idea of another fox wrapping around her proved fruitless. From some imagined fox to ones she knew, like Gideon, she tried to place them in her mind as the owner of the fur encompassing her. All those thought experiments kept her awake, keenly aware that she wasn’t surrounded by another mammal but sewn together fur and fibers.

    When she thought back to the morning she woke surrounded by Nick and his fluffiness, the mammal made flaws of the set blurred. They felt more alive than crafted. Still, they were missing something vital. Something she could only get from Nick. Something she wasn’t sure he could give her.

    Squeezing the tail against her, tears fell from her eyes.

    “Nick, I…” She whimpered into the tail. “I-I love you, Nick.”

    With no one else around, her sobbing drowned out her quiet confession. She ached for him, knowing now what was missing. It felt wrong though. Out of order. There’s supposed to be a series of dates before getting a cuddle partner.

    Then there’s the further complication of their species. Interspecies relationships weren’t new, nor unheard of, but they usually were within the same family or genus. Her noisy neighbors have an interspecies relationship. Most mammals, who aren’t already a kind of antelope, wouldn’t notice the slight differences between the gemsbok and kudu. Even in Bunnyburrow, no sheep family batted an eye when a hare courted a bunny but the burrows would gossip to high heaven.

    A fox was nowhere near a hare, let alone a rabbit.

    All her life she fought against the stream of societal pressures to get where she was, despite what the world defined what a rabbit could do or be. She didn’t give two tail twitches about what the world would think of who her heart yearned for. All that mattered was if he could accept her love and give his in return.

    Nick had made strides in opening his emotions since becoming her partner, but if he couldn’t reciprocate her feelings it wasn’t hard to imagine him closing back up.

    Clamping her eyes shut and ignoring the sting of tears, Judy made peace with her decision to accept the faux warmth. Thoughts of being wrapped around a sleeping Nick would have to stay in her dreams and fantasies.

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    One more shift until the weekend, Judy reminded herself. She hit the enter key that was two sizes too big for her and waited for the next page to load. One dull and tiring shift. Not physically tiring, she rarely minded the physical exhaustion of the job. It was mental exhaustion that was maddening. Getting home every night during this case had her brain wanting to do nothing but shut down while her body ached for activity. If she didn’t get to chase a suspect down soon, she’d go insane.

    They stumbled upon a cold case almost a week ago. Neither had dealt with a cold case before, but Judy was excited at the challenge. Turns out cold case work involves a lot of rechecking of reports and files, not running down criminals through the streets of Zootopia. This particular case went across several jurisdictions which is why Judy was sitting in a secluded cubicle of Precinct 14 going through their archaic archive alone and Nick was off gathering reports from Precinct 8.

    The tediousness of the day had doubled with her notebook of the case forgotten at home. She wasn’t one to usually forget something that important but she also usually doesn’t oversleep. Judy used to always get up before her alarm but ever since she visited Astor’s she has been waking up to the electronic bleating of her alarm more and more. The rushed morning wasn’t fully the fault of the faux fox fur and her russet fantasies, the majority of the blame she gave to the late night car accident that took out a power line, which meant no alarm clock.

    The screen flickered as the next page of the file archive list sprung up. She pulled out her phone absentmindedly and looked at the yet to be updated text conversation.

<NP. I’ll grab it after P8>

    They had given each other spare keys to their apartments some time ago. Nick had used his to get into her apartment on that drunken tail grabbing night and it looked like he was going to use it again.

<Thanks! You’re a lifesaver!>

<Might stop by Giacchino’s. Want anything?>

<I’m fine. Thanks though.>

    That had been at the beginning of their shift and it was now getting well past noon. Her stomach grumbled its displeasure at her lack of foresight. Flustered by the flurry of her morning commute, it was hours after the text that she remembered that the only thing less updated than Precinct 14’s computer system was their dining menu. One measly vending machine that might be a day younger than her father. Giacchino’s was a deli only a few blocks from her apartment and they had become regular customers there. They had greens fresh enough to make salads almost good enough to be called Hopps Farm Fresh™. Almost. She’d never confess that to her folks.   

    Maybe she still had time. She started to type a message when the phone buzzed in her paws.

<On my way to P14. Be there in 5.>

    She groaned. Now her meal options whittled down to something cold, stale, and takes exact change only.

<No lights and sirens, Slick>

<:( Be there in 15>

    She couldn’t help but chuckle. He was such a kit at times. It was one of the reasons she loved him. It was also one of the more frustrating aspects of him. On the job, he was straightlaced and professional when dealing with the citizens, but just about everything out of his mouth was a tease between them. Some were deflections and she was getting better at spotting them. A subtle drop in pitch, a morose tone, or some morbid humor seem to be the common flags. But those were usually attached to the subject of his father. Those flags started to become less frequent as he began opening up about himself to her.

    She was an open book, willing to answer just about anything from her past to him. Anything except three specific things. Two of which were hidden under her sheets and an army of plush figures. The third was her feelings for him. Her love for him. On their first shift as partners, he teased her with his “You know you love me” line. Something he’s done several times since, always after she got him back for a previous tease or prank. Her response had been the same every time. Using his advice on press conferences and asked herself if she knew that and saying she did. The last few times she had given a larger pause than usual, stifling her urge to not play into the deflection and just confess her feelings to him.

    A knock on the cubical frame shook her out of her stupor.

    “Did I just see _the_ Judy Hopps spacing out?”

    She glanced back at her phone and saw she had lost nearly ten minutes of time.

    “Judy Always-On-Duty Hopps, slacking on the job. What has the world come to?”

    “You’re one to talk, Slick.” She hopped off the chair meant for a bigger mammal and met her partner halfway into the oversized cubicle.

    “Just saying, it’s a rare sight, like a unicorn or Benji eating something that isn’t coated in sugar.” He smirked with both his paws behind his back.

    “Got my notebook?”

    An amused hum came from the fox, “And she’s back. Straight to the point. No fluff except for her little cotton tail.”

    “Well?”

    “Calm down,” he brought one of his hands out from behind his back, a worn blue notebook in his paw, “Not that you have to worry about it but that kind of stress would make most mammals go grey early.”

    Ignoring the joke, she snatched the book from his paws and riffled through the pages before hugging it to her chest. The key to end her miserable time in this cubicle was in her paws.

    “Thank you, Nick. You don’t know how much time you saved me.”

    The urge to leap up and wrap her arms around his neck was strong. Her body tried but she turned the two attempts to leap into his arms into a few awkward hops of an over excited bunny. Nick didn’t show any signs of noticing, he just held his gaze on her with his amused grin. A warm smile of her own melted through her glee from the notebook.

    She may have scoffed at the attraction of a “male in uniform” shtick when she was younger, but, as Nick stood in front of her in his uniform, she felt something deep inside pull at her. That pull whispered things to her. Things like even though Precinct 14 was small and cramped, it did not have the same hustle and bustle that Precinct 1 had. So much so that Nick was the first officer she’s seen since after talking with the desk Sergeant when she first came in. That everything here was made for mammals much bigger than the two of them. That it would be easy to find a nice dark, secluded spot. The pull made her wondered how different a fox muzzle would feel against her’s.

    Whatever else that pull wanted to ask was loudly interrupted by the grumbling of her empty stomach.

    “Sorry,” she said as Nick raised a brow at her, “I haven’t taken my lunch break yet.”

    “Then you’re in luck.” He pulled his other paw from his back, a large paper sack was clenched in it, “A number three on whole wheat, no mayo, and extra sprouts.”

    There wasn’t enough time for her to stop her body from launching at the fox. Her arms locked around his body and her head rubbed against his chest. She was disheartened that she didn’t feel fur, as she rubbed up against his standard issued defense vest. As the part of her mind that could have more than two thoughts at once began to retake the controls, it wasn’t surprising.

    Her impulse made one last decision before reason took over, and she opened her mouth.

    “I love…”

    Her twitching tail shocked still as she thought of how to finish the sentence without massive embarrassment.

    “...T-that you thought of buying lunch for me.”

    His chest rocked as he laughed, “You already forgot your notebook, so it wasn’t a stretch to think you forgot about lunch too. On Duty Judy has some serious tunnel vision.”

    Untangling herself from him, she looked at him. There was a sneaky glint in his emerald eyes amongst warmth.

    “Even though I texted you I didn’t need it.”

    “Well,” he shrugged and leapt onto the chair that was more than big enough for the both of them, “I figured, if you attempted what the vending machines offered or just didn’t eat, I’d score some partner points with you. And if you had the mind to bring a lunch yourself, I’d just have Giacchino’s for lunch and dinner.”

    In the seat, he reached his paw down towards her with a satisfied smile. She took it and was hauled back into the chair.

    “It was a win-win situation.” He pulled out one wax paper bundle from the bag and handed it to her before digging his own out.

    Unfolding the paper wrapping she was greeted by a tan, missile-shaped sandwich cut into quarters. Between the delicious, daily-made bread was a festival of vegetables. Chunky green avocado was spread across both sides of the bread, barely holding the massive load of sprouts together as slices of radish, carrot, and onion were stuffed in the middle of it all. The deep sea trench of low expectations of her impending vending machine based lunch was shattered as she took her first bite. It was more delicious than anything she had previously eaten from the hooves of the bison running the deli. She hummed in ecstasy as the flavors burst in her mouth.

    Nick bought her the full-sized sub, even though she usually got the half sized, but she was glad he did. The first quarter had vanished into her mouth and she began working on the second without hesitation. Her bites became smaller and slower, her stomach taking satisfaction from the first quarter of the sub she inhaled. A content sigh flowed out as she leaned against Nick and finally began to savor her food.

    Splitting up the precincts between them might save them time on the case but it barely left them time to see each other. Texts and phone calls were how they usually communicated. Morning briefings being the only time they were physically together lately.  So she savored having her fox partner next to her more than the delicious food he brought. As his free paw moved and rub the back of her head, a warm hum emanated from her lips, turning into a purr as he scratched the base of her ears gently with his claws. After a minute or two she shook her head, clearing her blissed out mind before it attempted to passionately break guidelines on proper behavior between partners.

    “Which Precinct are you heading to next? Eleven?” She asked as she pulled out a carrot slice trying to escape from her overfilled sandwich and popped it into her mouth.

    “After this, I’m off to Precinct One to clock out.” He smiled at her confused face. “I’m taking a half day off.”

    “Why?”

    “Simple,” There was a wicked twinkle in his eyes that frightened her, “I have a date with a wonderful vixen.”

    Her ears fell at his words. A ball of fear grew cold in her stomach. Any half-dreamt chance at being with her fox had slipped through her fingers.

    “I’m picking her up,” he continued as the wicked twinkle gleefully grew, “Taking her back to her place.”

    Her heart raced and the sub nearly slipped out of her paws. This was a nightmare, it had to be.  After everything they've been through together, Nick would have told her about some girl he met. Wouldn’t he?

    “And tucking her into bed and making sure the anesthetics wear off properly.”

    The ever growing nightmare in her mind crashed at the mention of anesthetics. Brow furrowed she opened her mouth to question him when Nick started to laugh.

    “I’m sorry, but you’re an easy mark, Carrots.” His laughter eased up and the wicked twinkle was gone, “Ma’s going in for a root canal and needs a ride home.”

    A suffocating weight lifted off her chest and she took a breath of relief before feeling the heat of anger flare up.

    “Don’t do that to me!” Still sitting, she bounced up and punched Nick in the arm. He winced back at her contact, neither of them expected it to be as powerful as it was.

    “Yeowch!” He rubbed his bicep, “Whoever coined the phrase ‘Hits like a bunny’ must have never been hit by one.”

    “Sorry, I-”

    “Feels like something’s broke, I’ll need an x-ray to be sure.” With a look of excessive innocence on his face he gingerly moved his arm around in a mock assessment of his injury.

    “It wasn’t that hard.”

    “A sling at least, so it’ll heal properly.” He took another bite of his own sub.

    Judy let out a jovial huff as his wagging tail flopped against her back, “Well maybe you can ask your mom to kiss your boo-boo and make it better.”

    “That or maybe…” When he hesitated Judy turned back to him, his own gaze on her reverting back to the food in his paw.

    “Or what?”

    “Don’t worry, Carrots, in the unlikely scenario that I capture the eye of a vixen, I’ll make sure that she’s up to your standards.”

    Swallowing her fear with the bite of sprouts she did her best to play along, “That’s going to be a high bar, Slick.”

    “I’d expect nothing less.”

    They chewed in silence. Judy prayed to all lagomorph deities that she hid her anxiety under Nick’s radar.

    “But you know, that also means any bucks have to exceed my standards before they’re allowed the prospect of courting you.”

    Staring at the end of the first half of her sub she gave a dry chuff with a sardonic smirk, “I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that, Nick.”

    Even in Bunnyburrow, the bucks shied away from her. It only took a few horror stories of her utter lack of desire to build a burrow and start multiplying to fend off the average buck. A few sprained wrists and black eyes from those who got pawsy scared off the rest. She wasn’t in Bunnyburrow now and she didn’t have eyes on any buck, just a handsome todd. A todd that showed her she wasn’t perfect. A todd that forgave her for her worst mistakes. A todd that made her a better mammal.

    Electronic bleating broke Judy from her thoughts. Nick grumbled as he tried to shut off his wristwatch alarm while still holding his sandwich in his paw.

    “Wish I could stay longer.” He shoved the last bit of the sub into his mouth and gave it a few quick chews before swallowing.

    “Tell your mother I said ‘hi’.”

    “Will do, Carrots.”

    Reaching out, her paw gripped his forearm. The urge to revel in its thick warmth was maddening but she bit it down.

    “And Nick? Thanks for bringing me my notebook.”

    His placid lips widened into a tender grin.

    “You’re welcome,” Nick leapt off the chair in his nimble foxy way, making the barest of sounds, “And try not to zone out again.”

    Wrapping her sandwich back up and setting it on a several pages of a failed attempt at reconstructing her notebook by memory, she put her mind back onto her task. A task that was going to be so much easier with her notebook. Three awkward key presses and she was back at the start of the large list. She flipped open her notebook and was ready to go through the list like a hot knife through butter.

    “Oh and Carrots?” Nick’s voice was soft, almost conspiratorial, and very close. She tensed up, expecting him to be by the doorway but only for him to be hanging off the back of the chair behind her.

“I saw your new additions to the cuddle army.”

    It had been some time since she got a new plush for her bed and Nick had visited multiple times since. The last time she bought any plushies was before the night of the tail hugging. But she also hasn’t been cuddling with her plushies for a while now. He couldn’t mean _those_ additions, could he?

    “Must have cost you quite a bit.” His own russet tail flopped into her lap, “But Astor’s work is worth every penny, isn’t it.”

    Her stomach dropped. He knew. He saw it. In her haste, she not only forgot her book but never went back to make her bed and hide her secret accessories. Any thought of explaining why she had them was frozen in fear with the rest of her body as worsening hypotheses of what Nick thought of it and of her flooded her mind.

    “It’s a shame though.” His husky voice now hovered above her head, between her shocked still ears, “If you wanted the real thing, all you’d have to do is ask.”

    His tail flowed out of her lap like a gust of wind, flicking the tip of her nose before vanishing like a dream, or a nightmare, leaving her a bundle of cold fear and confusion. The tapping of his foot pads on the aged linoleum floor faded as he walked away, leaving her with her own scream of horror ringing in her head.

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    Teasing was an easy default for Nick. It allowed him to gauge a mammal’s reaction without fully exposing himself. He could deflect the negativity by saying it was a joke but could also move the idea forward if it was accepted. Credit for many of his successful hustles was given to him that way. Most of his failed ones were easy to pin on others who ran with his “joke of an idea”. It gave the impression that Nick was always right, even when he wasn’t. It was an asterisk on an imperfect batting score saying all the misses weren’t his fault and shouldn’t actually be counted against him.

    Heading into the locker room of Precinct One, Nick passed Officer Snarloff. Nick would have asked why Snarloff was leaving early but the polar bear had been muttering about the futility of pee-wee soccer as they passed each other.

    The door shut and Nick was left alone. His only companions were the humid musk of male, the faint drip of a recently used shower, and his frayed nerves.

    He let out a long, shuddering breath as the tingle of adrenaline fled his system. They were old friends, adrenaline and him. Even when he was on good terms with Mr. Big, it coursed through his body with every visit. In every hustle a little flowed through him, giving each one their own little thrill. As a cop, it crept in as they approached every car they pulled over and as every door opened that they knocked on. Teasing Judy just now had given him the kind of jolt of adrenaline he had not experienced in quite some time.

    Reaching his locker, he pulled out a duffel bag and took out a smaller drawstring bag from it. Starting with his badge and name tag, he began to take off his uniform. His paw still shook from the fleeing adrenaline.

    It was fear that caused so much of it. His teases were protection, a layer of insulation for his feelings against the harsh realities. They were too exposed this time, it was too direct. Teases were not supposed to be direct. A successful tease would push others to a desired direction. He was more than a little direct with this one and he didn’t want to think about what would happen if she took it negatively.

    Wadding up his shirt, he shoved it into the drawstring bag before pulling at the velcro straps on his vest.

    A failed tease in the past usually meant a loss of reputation or a smaller slice of the cut. Both things could easily be made up for with a good hustle. There was way more at stake here. The least-worst of the worst case scenarios would be a loss of trust and respect. The same two things he rarely received from anyone before meeting her. It would negatively impact their partnership, which is built on trust and respect. She wouldn’t be able to put her life in the paws of someone she couldn’t trust. She’d probably request a new partner or a transfer to another precinct. If it came to that, he’d be the one to move. It was her dream and he would never want to take it, even the smallest bit, from her.

    With his vest on a hanger, he began to take off the inner lining with care.

    His mind spiraled down the black hole of negative outcomes. He tried to fend it off with logic and reason, as there were more points in them saying she would not react as negatively as his fears hypothesized. The fact she had not only purchased a tail but also what amounted to a fox fur body pillow, was a major point. She gave as good as she received against his teases, albeit she didn’t tease as often as he did. There was also her scents. There was a base scent that was just Judy. It was warm and earthy, very rabbity but there was more to it that made it uniquely her. Every so often she’d give off more, something bit more flowery and sweet. He had suspicions as to what that was but never had the courage to confirm it.

    Bellwether said that fear always wins, but Nick knew that wasn’t entirely true. It may not always win but it always puts up a strong fight.

    He rubbed the rabbit fur lining that he took off his vest between his paws and wondered fearfully if this was going to be the closest he’ll get to that night again.

    Amplified by the emptiness of the locker room and the metal locker, Nick’s phone sent out a shockingly loud vibration as an alert went off, nearly dropping the rabbit fur lining on the ground.

    One hand grabbed his phone while the other tucked the lining in the drawstring bag with the other clothes to be washed. It was a text message from Judy. His heart leapt into his throat. This was it. He unlocked the phone while trying to keep the fear from taking over.

<If your offer still stands, come by when you’re done helping your mom tonight.>

    His fears stood in shock before the flood of relief drown them out of his mind as his tail began to wag. He typed the word ‘okay’ before he knew it but stopped before hitting send. A mischievous smirk crept onto his face and began retyping his response.

<Are you sure you don’t want a drink first?>

    The speed at which she replied amused him.

<No>

    The three floating dots appeared as she clarified with a barrage of texts.

<I want to remember it this time.>

<And I don’t want to hurt your tail.>

<And you don’t have to wear anything fancy. The heart boxers were kind of cute on you.>

    Her normal texting habit was to send as much information in one text as possible. She must have been as anxiety ridden as he was to become the rapid-fire rabbit.

<Calm down, {Carrot Emoji}s. I’ll be there by 10 at the latest>

 

~-~-~-~-~

 

    Warmth. Nick felt a warmth which he had only felt in a dream. No, not a dream. It was far too real, yet too faded to be a dream. An ancient memory.  He was the center of a circle of fluff, surrounded by two bottle brush tails. Dust flowed off the ancient relic of a memory as he felt the current warmth. The fog of youth remained but the faint images grew bolder. A bittersweet pang rang through his heart as the remembered warmth dull from a bitter chill of loss.

    On pure instinct he reached out and pulled the source of his warmth closer. The rabbit let out a pleased hummed in her sleep and shuffled further into his thick winter coat. He would not lose her. She was too important to him. She believed in and trusted him when no one else would. She showed him that hope still lived in the world, and in him and that it was worth fighting for. They fought for that hope and for the good of the city together.

    As her friend, he found the true meaning of friendship. As her partner those bonds only grew. His old motto became less and less relevant with her and eventually allowing her to see she got to him. His need to talk in teases was not necessary with her, and he even got the courage to ask her a very important question without them. His arm loosened around her and his paw moved to hers, feeling the metal bands on their fingers clink against one another.

    The world might not have dramatically improved since they became partners but each day they did their best to be exemplary mammals. The number of times he’s told Judy that the world would be better with more mammals like her was incalculable. Nevertheless, she would respond in kind that her wish would be for more mammals like him. His paw moved from hers to the slight roundness of her stomach. It seemed nature agreed with both of them. He still hoped they’ll take more after their mother.

    The warmth was different than the ancient memory. It didn’t surround him. It didn’t envelope him. It came from within in him and he felt that warmth amplified through Judy and her little bump. It wasn’t a warmth of fuzz or fur. A single tear squeezed past his shut and sleepy eyelid. He had an epiphany before sleep took him back. This was how his father must have felt all those years ago, wrapped around him and his mother.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to post this a week ago but didn't know that emojis break ability to submit works. Took awhile but that little tidbit of information was in AO3s twitter back in September. A fix is in the works for it, maybe I'll update the fic when they fix it.


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